Monday, October 4, 2010

"Rejoice in the Lord always; again I will say, rejoice!" (Philippians 4:4).

For the first few days of our staycation, I was struggling physically and feeling sorry for myself about it. My husband had time off work, the weather was as beautiful as it gets for north Texas, and we had sent Ebony to "camp" (an outstanding boarding facility near our home) so we could relocate to a hotel in town for a few days to hit our reset buttons to switch over to vacation mode. We had hoped at least to have some nice dinners out, but I didn't even feel like leaving our room except for breakfast and the housekeeper.

Al had a great attitude about it (better than mine), bringing nice dinners in and watching movies with me. He enjoyed some long walks on new trails and brought me back photos. We changed my lupus check-up so I could be seen sooner and he could take me, and he gladly spent an afternoon running necessary errands.

While he was exploring the great outdoors one day, I was washing my mind out with Scripture, reviewing memory verses to replace the negative attitude with Truth. One of the cards in the queue that day held Philippians 4:4-8, the first sentence of which was the correction I needed: "Rejoice in the Lord always; again I will say, rejoice!"

Rejoice in the Lord.

Rejoice always.

Even though my hopes for the content of our staycation had been disappointed, I ought to and could rejoice anyway because true joy is "in the Lord." The Lord Jesus Christ is the same, just as faithful, just as loving, just as true, just as kind. Whether my immediate visible circumstances are happy or troubled, still I can rejoice because He is my joy and the ground of my rejoicing. He is the "always" of joy, the sweetness that turns lemons of trials into lemonade.

My strength did take a turn for the better towards the end of the week, and last night we were indeed able to enjoy a nice dinner out at a restaurant, but I hope by God's grace some progress had been made in true joy even without that.

May you find grace to rejoice in the Lord always today, and may He transform all your lemons into lemonade.

Glimpses of gratitude for this week, #1172-1186:

A lovely local getaway to start our time off

A patient, loving husband

Photos to bring the outdoors in

Ebony did terrific at the kennel. For the first time ever, our shy dog thoroughly enjoyed the group play sessions, playing chase and wrestling and even helping another shy dog adjust to the new place.

Feeling better today than I did a week ago

Lemonade lessons

Watching movies together with my honey

Watching the Dallas Cowboys win

Pizza and frozen yogurt

Gorgeous fall weather

A.'s enjoyment of playing with his power tools to rebuild the shed doors before he repainted the whole structure

Time away from the computer

Date night at a restaurant

My sister cooking a gourmet supper for us Saturday night

My new stuffed animal friend Ajax, who followed A. home from the pharmacy last week. (Ebony regards him as a tasty snack food.)

Thank you for sharing your day with me! Your presence here is a gift. *You* are a gift. Right now I am unable to reply to every comment, but please know I read and pray for each and every commenter. Grace and peace to you in Christ.

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